President Trump’s best opening gambit at January’s congressional state of the union address would be to throw down the space gauntlet and fully commit NASA to a crewed lunar return.

Without waxing too nostalgic, this time of year makes those of a certain age harken back to the good ole days when sending an Apollo capsule to orbit the Moon and back was big news. Who can forget the Apollo 8 crew’s 1968 Christmas Eve reading from the book of Genesis as the craft swung around the ancient lunar backside and into our star’s brilliant unimpeded light?

The new President offers space aficionados the best chance of seeing humans on the face of the near side anytime soon. Here are five reasons why a Trump Administration should make the Moon a near-term priority.

Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to the moon, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida December 21, 1968. This helped start the mission plan for Apollo 11 with Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, astronauts; they became the first men to walk on the moon. Xhistoricalcollectionx Apollo 8 photos and Apollo 8 images

--- It would complement a future crewed mission to Mars.

A near-term 10-year goal of returning humans to the Moon on a semi-permanent basis at one of the lunar poles would show the rest of the world that NASA’s crewed space program is back.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk and SpaceX’s focus on getting humans to Mars would be aided by NASA’s new lunar missions. Technologies four decades after Apollo could be better tested and incorporated into a crewed Mars mission in a joint private public partnership, either involving NASA, and several new space companies or a joint mission to Mars with existing space agencies like the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA); even Russia’s Roscosmos.

Ironically, those who so vehemently argue against returning to the Moon first, don’t seem to realize that new missions to the lunar surface would only generate new interest in a whole new generation of space enthusiasts. A generation that would simultaneously demand that this country’s leadership put their full weight behind getting us to Mars, with or without commercial space.

--- Lunar science is still vital to better understanding our own planet.

As one lunar scientist once told me, the very idea that we can fully understand the Earth-Moon system without much more in situ exploration is sheer hubris. Never forget that the Moon was actually formed from a Mars-sized impactor crashing into our young Earth.

And even with only robotic lunar exploration, planetary scientists are continually puzzled and surprised by how little we know about the details of this two-body system’s dynamic formation and chemical evolution.

To think such understanding can come about via robotic probes and a few short Apollo missions from four decades ago, the scientist told me, would be as ludicrous as Lewis and Clark thinking they could understand the continental U.S. after completing their first foray West.

--- Finally, it would signal to the rest of the world and NASA’s commercial partners that the incoming Administration can meet a deadline.

Of course, Congress still has its say, but an Administration that uses a bully pulpit and goes directly to the American people is one that usually gets things done.

A crewed lunar return undertaken in a very methodical way with set deadlines and goals would signal the American public that the new Trump Administration is serious about building offworld infrastructure.